Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Earth’s benevolent non-profit by day, Thera’s totalitarian regime by night. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance™. Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving—forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.

Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.

Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother’s death, Blake’s been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner—Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.

Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Worldwide non-profit and do-gooder organization. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Life(TM). Reality: hidden behind every kind act is a dark agenda designed to gain control and force societal and moral extremes. Currently, the SCI’s pushing Project Liberate, a program to woo the poor and downtrodden into their Clean Slate Complexes—where “everything is provided” from jobs to food, shelter, clothing, and education. Unfortunately, as with all things that sound too good to be true, there’s a catch…

Meet Alexa Knight. Feisty, tough and currently homeless in Los Angeles, Alexa agrees to help the SCI in return for medical care for her sick mother. When she starts to suspect there’s more to the SCI than meets the eye will she believe Adam—the boy who saved her life and the SCI’s biggest champion, or Joshua—the attractive enigma who sings about conspiracy theories and pretends to be someone he’s not?

Full of action, humor, romance, twists and turns, clean slate complex is a companion story to the highly-praised dystopian novel, daynight. It can be enjoyed before or after readingdaynight.

Above all else—grammar, style, plot,
or even characterization—I depend on emotional connections to the
characters I follow. I want to giggle as the protagonist gets flirted
with by the cute guy, and cry with her when he inevitably breaks her
heart. Hate, joy, anger, contentment—all are welcome, which is why
I write this review with a heavy heart. I was anxious to dig into the
world of daynight by Megan Thomason, the concept of an
alienesque sister planet to Earth drawing on my love for Sci-Fi, but
my hopes for a new obsession were shattered by poor editing and a
shallow depiction of humanity.

The opening prologue was hilarious. I
don't think I've ever laughed so hard so soon when reading a book, so
my already high expectations were sky-rocketed by some pretty
fantastic writing. I even noted how the semi-colon was used
correctly, a nitpick of mine. As I was thrust into Kira's first
person perspective my fascination waned, which is acceptable for the
setup of a story. What was not acceptable were the repetitive and
overabundant details, overuse of narration to dialogue, and
inconsistent tense participles. When I saw another semi-colon in the
beginning of the book, this time used incorrectly, I should have
taken it as an omen.

Where I think the emotional disconnect
was the most evident was in the narration and in the characters
themselves. The entire first half of the book was a vague description
of the workings of Thera—rules, schedules, terminology, etc. We
knew that the sun rose in the west and the heat made living a nightly
affair, but we didn't know how the SCI could get away with taking
kids to a different planet, threaten their lives, and reap no
consequences. And Kira, after scoffing initially at the idea of being
somewhere other than Earth, just seemed to accept Thera and her life
there. There was no fear, no panic—nothing but curiosity. As much
as the characters liked to talk inside their own heads, I didn't
really learn much about them. Details, yes, but they didn't have any
definable personality traits that moved them through the story. Add
to robotic characters a told story instead of shown, narration being
the choice instead of dialogue, and it's not surprising I couldn't
invest myself in daynight.

Grammatically speaking, this book
should not have been written in first person. It seems the go-to
point of view for many authors, but first person is harder to pull
off than one might think. It may lend itself well to witty inner
dialogue, but often at the expense of giving the reader the full
picture, and if you're dead set on using it for three separate
voices, a lot of work must go into making each of those voices
unique. From Blake to Kira to Ethan, I began only hearing Megan
Thomason.

I wanted desperately to like this book.
The concept even now appeals to me, and I'm all the sadder for it not
having delivered. I'm locking this book up, but I'm not throwing away
the key. With a heavy dose of editing—fixing consistency in the
flashbacks and the past perfect/simple past mix-ups, developing the
characters, cutting the fat off the narration, reblocking the plot
layout—daynight could be phenomenal. It's innovative and
intriguing, but it was published before it could blossom into a
well-rounded story.

Megan Thomason lives in paradise aka San Diego, CA with her husband and five children. A former software manager, Megan vastly prefers writing twisted tales to business, product, and marketing plans. When she isn't typing away on her laptop, she's reading books on her phone—over 600 in the last year—or attending to the needs of her family. Megan’s fluent in sarcasm, could potentially benefit from a 12-step program for road rage, struggles with a Hot Tamales addiction, loves world travel & fast cars and hates paperwork & being an insomniac. Daynight is Megan's first published novel, but fourth written one.

Choose what you enter to win wisely. Your stay on Thera may be extended indefinitely.

Highlighting a different giveaway every daynight of the Tour... International Winners will receive a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate and US Winners may choose $25 GC in lieu of Prize Package.

US only. International winners will receive $25 Amazon gift certificate. US winners can opt to receive $25 Amazon gift certificate in lieu of any prize package.Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced on Rafflecopter and Grand Finale posts as well as emailed and the winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Burgandy Ice @ Colorimetry and Prism Book Tours and sponsored by Megan Thomason. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

When Eve Marryat’s father is laid off from the Ford Motor Company in 1931, he is forced to support his family by leaving St. Paul, Minnesota, and moving back to his Ohio roots. Eve’s uncle Cyrus has invited the family to live and work at his Marryat Island Ballroom and Lodge.

St. Paul seemed like a haven for gangsters, and Eve had grown fearful of living there. At seventeen, she considers her family to be “good people.” They aren’t lawbreakers and criminals like so many people in her old neighborhood. Thrilled to be moving to a “safe haven,” Eve is blissfully unaware that her uncle’s lodge is a transfer station for illegal liquor smuggled from Canada.

Eve settles in to work and makes new friends, including an enigmatic but affecting young man. But when the reality of her situation finally becomes clear, Eve is faced with a dilemma. How can she ignore what is happening right under their very noses? Yet can she risk everything by condemning the man whose love and generosity is keeping her and her family from ruin?

As I flipped through the first pages of
Ann Tatlock's Sweet Mercy, hitting the ten percent mark, and the
twenty, and then the thirty, dread snaked its way into my heart. This
is the very first book I have reviewed for a tour, and I was
miserable with the thought it would have to be negative. Halfway
through the book, I was relieved to find my interest increasing, and
by the end I was as content as hot summer days spent drinking sweet
tea on the porch.

The problem with Sweet Mercy lay in the
Prologue. As so many romantic stories begin, we meet Eve as an old
woman, leading her grandson through a place of her past. She's
searching for a box of trinkets, one of which the boy's grandfather
gave her before they were married. The story of a grand love affair
is obviously the next step, but my expectations would be wrong. The
story of Sweet Mercy is not about seventeen-year-old Eve's romance
with her future husband, but rather about all the people she meets
who help her grow into the woman she becomes. Had the Prologue
captured that essence instead of making me guess who Eve's mysterious
sweetheart would turn out to be, I would have started enjoying the
book much sooner.

Ann Tatlock's biggest strength as a
writer is her ability to distinguish each character with only a few
short lines. Even Cecil, a man introduced only twice in the book, was
so profoundly real to me. There's a boy being beat by his bootlegging
father, a girl whose only dream is to marry that boy, the shy suitor
who's off to college in the fall, an angry albino who learns to care
for a lonely girl, a bum searching for alcohol in the days of
prohibition, and of course Eve. I was not fond of Eve to begin with.
She was preachy, judgmental, and incredibly naïve. But as these
characters surrounded and taught her, my feelings grew and changed. I
began to understand why such an innocent soul would rebel against the
very idea that good could coincide with bad.

I can't deny my disappointment at not
having enjoyed Sweet Mercy as much as I could have, but the end gave
me hope I might take to a second read. The history is rich, the
characters fascinating, and the outcome beautiful. If you're someone
who likes a good coming of age story, you might want to take a peek
inside Sweet Mercy and decide for yourself if you like the
gangster-ridden cities of the thirties.

Ann Tatlock is the author of the Christy Award-winning novel Promises to Keep. She has also won the Midwest Independent Publishers Association "Book of the Year" in fiction for both All the Way Home and I'll Watch the Moon.Her novel Things We Once Held Dear received a starred review from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly calls her "one of Christian fiction's better wordsmiths, and her lovely prose reminds readers why it is a joy to savor her stories." Ann lives with her husband and daughter in Asheville, North Carolina.

Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced on Rafflecopter and Grand Finale posts as well as emailed and the winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Burgandy Ice @ Colorimetry and Prism Book Tours and sponsored by Bethany House Publishers and Ann Tatlock. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Monday, April 1, 2013

The winner will have the option of receiving a 7" Kindle Fire HD (US Only)

Or $199 Amazon.com Gift Card (International)

Or $199 in Paypal Cash (International)

Sponsoring Authors

The Breeders by Katie French

"The Breeders is a YA dystopian read that's as gritty and dark as the cover and title suggest. It takes a look at how society might devolve if females were commodities: bought, sold, stolen, and traded to keep the dwindling human race going. Frightening concept. I loved it." --A.G. Henley, author of The Scourge

"An amazingly snarky protagonist, two hot boys, a mass rebellion, and an ending that will blow your mind are the perfect ingredients that will make Dissidence the next big thing in YA." --Beth, YA Sisterhood

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the participating authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Monday, March 25, 2013

It's good advice. The outer skin of a pomegranate doesn't reveal the juicy ruby beads beneath. Nor does a slim figure and flowing hair portray a woman's deep emotions or complex character.

People also say, “First impressions are important.”

Because as much as we strive to set aside appearances, appearances find a way to snake around our thoughts, spouting judgments like weeds. This was a hard lesson to learn for author S.M. Blooding, who is re-releasing her fantastical tale of bitter feuds, unwanted bonds, and the fight for right and freedom with a brand new look.

Mystical, magical, dangerous WOW. The cover of Fall of Sky City: Devices of War Trilogy, Book 1, is artful, detailed, visually stunning, and a myriad of other favorable adjectives. If you compare the new to the old (which I'll do in a moment), you can see the vast improvement, but to say this cover is merely a step up would be to take away from its stand-alone brilliance.

Our protagonist is front and center, a powerful enforcer in a city of advanced science or magic. The title and author's name are outlined and dynamic, brilliantly placed. The cover itself tells a story, has both depth of concept and visual depth. The illustrator played with lights and shadows masterfully, drawing the eye from the ship and red moon in the sky to our hero's mysterious tattoo and weaponry. All of this is a far cry from The Hands of Tarot, the original title and cover:

First thought: Not for me.

Visually, the cover is flat. The reds, oranges, and browns bleed into monotony, and there is no depth to any of the images. I doesn't grab me the way a cover should.

Conceptually, the cover is somewhat intriguing, with drawn art and a mystical steampunk feel, but I don't like my protagonists quite so dark. The Queen of Wands, supposed master of a human pet, is in some way immersed in Tarot, a magic revolving around fate and fortune that has terrible, dark consequences.

Sounds like a completely different book to Fall of Sky City, doesn't it? That's because everything this cover told me… is wrong.

In a world governed by the opposing forces of the mystical House of Tarot and the tribal Great Families, Synn is caught in the crossfire. He witnesses the slaughter of innocent people, and the devastating murder of his father. This act awakens his Mark of power, a Mark greater than any the world has seen in a very long time.

Queen Nix thought she won a great prize when she destroyed Synn’s father, the leader of the strongest Great Families. She had no idea she’d be doubly blessed by capturing his son. However, before Synn can become her treasured weapon, before she can use him to bring the rest of the world to its knees, she must break him and bind his soul to hers.

She does her job with brutal brilliance. Synn’s mind is broken and his soul is seared to hers in an unbreakable bond.That doesn’t stop him from wanting to be free. She may have broken his mind and claimed his soul, but he will find a way to destroy her.

Experience a world of ships that sail the clouds and cites buried beneath the ocean, and survive the fiery battle brought forth by those who control the forces of nature!

Now, that is a book I can sink my teeth into! I'm extremely grateful to S.M. Blooding for re-releasing this book the way it should have always been wrapped. Had she not, I would have likely passed on something I'm eager to read and enjoy. Let this be a lesson to all authors to take time and care in choosing how to display their hard work to the world, lest you end up in the same boat with a cover and title that don't do your characters or your story justice.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Selfish (sel-fish) adj. Devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.

Here's the thing. Selfish is not, in itself, a bad word. Humans, by nature, are selfish creatures. It's okay to be selfish, to think about yourself and only yourself every once in a while. Just like it's okay to have a few drinks. It's when those few drinks turn into a few more and all the sudden you're an alcoholic narcissist that we have a problem. The trick is being selfish in the right way.

In a sentence:
~ "A $500 pair of shoes when you haven't even paid your part of the rent? You are the most selfish person I have ever met!"
~ To a run-ragged mother of three, a selfish dose of bubble baths and steamy novels is just what the doctor ordered.

Help me come up with ways to be selfish! Give me a good example and a bad example.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Imagine a strong, lovely character
standing on top of a hill, bathed in sunlight, an intriguing plot
blossoming from beautiful descriptive words all around her. When I
opened my Kindle to the first page of Kathleen Brooks' Bluegrass State of Mind, I thought I might have finally found a Contemporary
Romance to hold my attention. A thrilling prologue leads into a
vision of our protagonist, McKenna Mason, running from and for her
life on the open roads of Kentucky. She's searching for a childhood
love, a Mr. Will Ashton, sexy owner of Ashton Farm and Boots, his
prized race horse.

Upon meeting Will, I was smitten. He
was charming, sweet, and arrogant in all the right places, with just
a touch of insecurity mixed in. We also meet Will's wonderful
parents, Paige Davies, a sheik named Mo, and a host of other
townsfolk, including the hysterical Rose sisters, who try in equal
parts to wheedle romantic gossip out of Kenna and prevent her from
having any at all to tell. We then meet Whitney, as she pushes Kenna
and that promising plot down a slippery slope into mediocrity.

There were several moments where I
thought the story could have been saved, but Kenna continued to trip
over meddling characters and her own obtuse deductions. For something
that started out thrilling and mysterious, I soon became frustrated I
had figured out what was going to happen before the characters ever
suspected. I couldn't even fall back on the adorable country
romance—Will, who I hoped would ride in on his Ford truck and save
the day, was stashed away for safekeeping, only to be brought out
again when Brooks was ready for for the misunderstandings to be
resolved. And then BAM, relationship. There was no getting to know
him past his introduction; readers are expected to fall in love with
him through quick sentences and time lapses.

I wish I could say the lackluster
romance and predictable plot were the only areas in which Bluegrass
State of Mind fell short, but as the story evolved, the writing did
the opposite. I could hardly believe a slapstick scene of fake crying
and bursts of laughter came from the same author that wrote
porch-sweeping old women and a cute, cocky reunion. Multiple typos
and Brooks' incessant need to explain the most obvious or unrealistic
scenarios made for a grimace-filled finish. Or as much of a finish as
cliffhangers will allow.

I won't say this book is completely
terrible, though. Southern charm is abundant through it's pages, and
Kenna is for the most part a strong leading lady. She's feminine but
tough, and fits right in with Kentucky society. The preaching that
good manners weren't sexist got tiresome, but I adored the fact Kenna
wasn't offended by good Southern hospitality. It was a nice change
from so many books preaching independence against men opening doors.

After predicting everything that would
happen in Book One, I can't imagine the next two telling me anything
I don't already know, so I'm unlikely to pick them up. However, I
can't regret reading Bluegrass State of Mind. It did not live up to
my expectations and it disappointed more than it entertained, but a
majority of the characters were rich and the relationships they
formed were true. If nothing else, they were well worth my time.

Monday, February 11, 2013

In the middle of an argument I was having, I flung my hands in the air and said, "You don't even have a mordicum... modicrum... whatever-that-word-is of sense!" Embarrassed, I immediately turned to my dictionary, and it turns out the 'R' I was sure was in 'modicum' was nowhere to be had, thus giving us our first Word of the Day!

In a sentence:

~ The hungry man wished he had just a modicum of food to put in his belly, so that it might stop grumbling at him.

~ Every city goer must have a modicum of change in their pocket, just enough to last the parking meter a few hours.

This is a book series I've seen around the blogosphere that I cannot ignore. I've read reviews that rave, the covers look fab, and OH MY the giveaways! The series starts with Article 5:

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police—instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.

Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.

Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.

That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings—the only boy Ember has ever loved.

After faking their deaths to escape from prison, Ember Miller and Chase Jennings have only one goal: to lay low until the Federal Bureau of Reformation forgets they ever existed.

Near-celebrities now for the increasingly sensationalized tales of their struggles with the government, Ember and Chase are recognized and taken in by the Resistance—an underground organization working to systematically take down the government. At headquarters, all eyes are on the sniper, an anonymous assassin taking out FBR soldiers one by one. Rumors are flying about the sniper’s true identity, and Ember and Chase welcome the diversion….

Until the government posts its most-wanted list, and their number one suspect is Ember herself.

Orders are shoot to kill, and soldiers are cleared to fire on suspicion alone. Suddenly Ember can’t even step onto the street without fear of being recognized, and “laying low” is a joke. Even members of the Resistance are starting to look at her sideways.

With Chase urging her to run, Ember must decide: Go into hiding…or fight back?